The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has announced that the historic January 30, 1970 edition of the journal Science, featuring analysis of the first geological samples from the moon, is now freely available to the public. This is to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969.
Members of the public may log on to the journal's website and register to access the special first lunar edition, which is now part of the Science Classic archive that is maintained by AAAS. The special issue, 335 pages in length, is one of the largest issues ever published by Science and includes an editorial by the late US science icon Philip Hauge Abelson, then the journal's editor.
Also included in the special issue were a summary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Science Conference; measurements of the age of the moon; findings of rare earth elements in the lunar samples of soils and rocks; research on the composition of sun and solar wind processes; general mineralogy from the Sea of Tranquility; insights into important rock-forming processes; and assessment of organic compounds in lunar materials.
